(Adhi Sankara has
written very many great Stotras (prayers) but here is a unique prayer, which is
not only a prayer but the summary of all the philosophy that he has taught.
Even during his time, this stotra was difficult to comprehend and it became
necessary for one of his disciples called Sureshwaracharya to write a
commentary called Manasollasa to this stotra. There are large number of books
and commentaries on this commentary itself. What I am trying to do is to make a
very feeble attempt to translate the stotra in to simple English. This is done
with the grace of God and blessings of Adhi Sankara, as I clearly understand
that I am not capable of such a great venture.

It has an
introductory sloka, followed by eight slokas, which is again followed by a
sloka of Phala sruthi.)

Mouna
Vyakhya prakatitha, para,

Brahma
thathwam yuvanam,

Varshishtha
anthevasad rishiganai,

Ravrutham
brahma nishtai,

Acharyendram
kara kalihtha chin,

Mudram
ananda roopam,

Swathmaramam
mudhitha vadanam,

Dakshinamurthim
eede.

I praise and salute
that Dakshinamrthy,

Who faces the south,

Who explains the
true nature of the supreme Brahman,

Through his state of
silence,

Who is young in
looks,

Who is surrounded by
disciples who are old Sages,

Whose minds are
fixed on Brahman,

Who is the greatest
of teachers,

Who shows the
Chinmudhra* by his hand,

Who is
personification of happiness,

Who is in the state
of extreme joy within himself,

And who has a
smiling face.

*He joins
the edge of the thumb and first finger, which indicates that God and soul are
one. This is called Chinmudhra.”Chinmudra denotes the identity of the individual soul and the
supreme Self or Brahman. God is the Brahman associated with Maya. The
identity is between the individual soul or self (jivatma) and the supreme self
(paramatma) and not God.”

Viswam
darpana drusyamana nagari,

Thulyam
nijantargatham,

Pasyannathmani
mayaya bahirivoth,

Bhutham
yatha nidraya,

Ya
sakshath kuruthe prabodha samaye,

Swathmanameva
dwayam,

Thasmai
sri guru murthaye nama idham,

Sree Dakshinamurthaye.
2

Similar to the image
of a town as seen in the mirror,

When one sees the
image of the world within him,

The world appears as
if it is outside.

It is similar to his
seeing due to illusion,

During the state of
sleep,

That the one real fact
appears as many different truths,

And he realizes ,when
he wakes up and sees the reality,

That he is really
the one and only one soul.

Salutation to the
God facing the south,

Who is the greatest
teacher.

The above stanza tells us that the world which is outside
us is same as our soul but we see them as different entities due to the veil
of ignorance. As soon as we wake up, we realize that the dream is false and
even while seeing our image in the mirror, we know that we are not seeing us
in the mirror but our image. When we get knowledge from the guru we are in the
wakeful state without the veil of ignorance.

Beejasyanthari
vankuro jagadhidham,

Prang
nirvikalpam puna,

Mayakalpitha
desa kala kalanaa,

Vaichithrya
chithrikrutham,

Mayaveeva
vijrumbhayathyapi maha,

Yogeeva
yah swechaya,

Thasmai
sri guru murthaye nama idham,

Sree
dakshinamurthaye. 3

Like the germ inside
the seed is its part ,

But becomes
different after development

The many places and
time which are before us ,

Are drawn by
illusion in the board of life in a peculiar manner,

By a great savant or
an expert Siddha,

Who can create them
as per their will,

Salutation to the
God facing the south,

Who is the greatest
teacher.

When the net of illusion is lifted and when we reach the
stage of manifestation, we would find that what we think as different is but
one and the same.

Yasyaiva
sphuranam sadathmakamasath,

Kalparthagam
bhasathe,

Sakshaath
thathwamaseethi veda vachasa,

Yobodhyathyasrithhan,

Yath
saksht karanath bhavenna punara,

Aavrithir
bhavambhonidhow,

Thasmai
sri guru murthaye nama idham,

Sree
dakshinamurthaye.
4

.

He who exists as
the real light of truth,

And shines in the
false world of appearance,

And He who teaches
disciples the great saying,

“Thou art that”
after realizing its import,

Gets away from this
cycle of life and death.

Salutation to the
God facing the south,

Who is the greatest
teacher.

“That Thou Art is the famous Grand
Pronouncement (mahA-vAkya) found in the Chandogya-Upanishad of the Sama Veda,
meted out by AruNi to Svetaketu. It is repeated nine times to him and explained
nine times. It is not supposed to be a casual statement. It is the summum bonum
of all Upanishadic teaching. It says: That brahman which is the common Reality
behind everything in the cosmos is the same as the essential Divinity, namely
the Atman or the Self, within you.” This realization which is extremely
difficult to achieve makes you understand that you are in fact this absolute
reality called “Brahman”.

Nanachidhra
ghato dhara sthitha maha,

Deepa
prabha bhaswaram,

Jnanam
yasya thu chakshuradhi karana,

Dwara bahi
spandathe,

Jaanameethi
tham eva baandham anubathi,

Yethath
samastham jagat,

Thasmai
sri guru murthaye nama idham,

Sree
dakshinamurthaye. 5

Like the light
emanating from a lamp,

Kept in a pot with
many holes,

Goes out in all
directions,

In the person in
whom the wisdom goes out

Through the openings
of ear , eye , mouth and thought,

And when that
person realizes that ‘I know myself”,

This whole universe
shines after Him alone ,

Who shines in the
consciousness as the knower.

Salutation to the
God facing the south,

Who is the greatest
teacher.

Our body
prevents us from seeing the truth(the light from outside) that we are the
Brahman and lets out light though the sensory organs and makes us deceive
ourselves by feeling that we are happy. This simile of a pot with holes for the
body occurs in many places in Indian philosophy.

Deham
pranam api indryanyapi chalaam,

Budhim cha
soonyam vidhu,

Stree
balandha jadopamasthvaha mithi,

Brandha
brusam vadhina,

Maya
sakthi vilasa kalpitha maha,

Vyamoha
samharine,

Thasmai
sri guru murthaye nama idham,

Sree
dakshinamurthaye. 6

Those great
philosophers , who think that,

The body , the soul
and the fickle intellect,

The concept of
emptiness and all other nothingness,

Are nothing but
themselves,

Are similar to the
women children , blind and the ignorant.

It is only He who
can destroy, this veil of ignorance,

And wake us up from
this state of deceit.

Salutation to the
God facing the south,

Who is the greatest
teacher.

This is a sample of the approach of negation in identifying
the truth about the concept of self. Senses, the body etc cannot be the
absolute truth as they are transient.

Rahu
grastha divakarendu sadrusho,

Maya
samachadanath,

Sanamthra
karanopa samharanatho,

Yo abhoot
sushuptha pumaan,

Pragaswapsaamithi
prabodha samaye,

Yaa
prathyabignayathe,

Thasmai
sri guru murthaye nama idham,

Sree
dakshinamurthaye. 7

Similar to the Sun when
being masked by the serpent Rahu,

Knows that it was
existing , once the eclipse is over

That man whose
senses are suppressed

When he is asleep,

Because of the veil
of illusion,

Realizes that he was
in the state of sleep,

When he wakes up.

Salutation to the
God facing the south,

Who is the greatest
teacher.

Similar the sun existing even when there is eclipse, we exist
when we are sleeping. This is denial of the Buddhist theory that , when we are
asleep there is nothingness.

Balyadishwapi
jagaradhadishu thadha,

Sarva sva
avasthasthaswapi,

Vyavrutha
swanuvarthamanamaha ,

Mithyanth
sphurantham sada,

Svathmaanam
pragatikarothi bajatham,

Yo mudraya
bhadraya,

Thasmai
sri guru murthaye nama idham,

Sree
dakshinamurthaye. 8

Salutations to him
who shines and exhibits,

Himself by the
beatific Chinmudhra of the hand,

That he exists
within the humans as self,

Forever and non
changing,

Even during the changing
states of childhood , youth and old age

And even during the
states of sleep, dream and wakefulness.

Salutation to the
God facing the south,

Who is the greatest
teacher.

The truth as represented by the concept of Brahman, exists
always.

Viswam pasyathi karya
karana thaya,

Swa swami
sambandatha,

Sishyacharya
thaya thadaiva pithru,

Puthradhyathmana
bedatha,

Swapne
Jagrathi va ya esha purusho,

Maya
Paribramitha,

Thasmai
sri guru murthaye nama idham,

Sree
dakshinamurthaye. 9

The world sees as
cause and effect,

The differences
between us and our lord,

The distinction
between teacher and the taught,

The distinction
between father and son,

And so the man is
confused by illusion,

And believes in
these differences,

During the times of
dream and wakefulness.

Salutation to the
God facing the south,

Who is the greatest
teacher.

The ignorance of the truth because of the veil of ignorance
Maya is reemphasized.

Bhoorambaamsya
anilo ambhara,

Maharnadho
himamasu puman,

Ithyabhathi
characharathmakamidham,

Yasyaiva
murthyashtakam,

Nanyath
kinchana vidhyathe vimrusathaam,

Yasmath
parasmath vibho,

Thasmai
sri guru murthaye nama idham,

Sree
dakshinamurthaye. 10

To the sake of which
supreme Brahman,

The universe is
shining as self ,

Which is Movable and
immovable , with its aspects?

Of water , fire,
air, space,

The sun, moon and
the individual soul ,

And also to those
who examine the truth behind ,

The meaning of this
universe and find ,

That it Consists of
nothing but,

The God who is
every where.

Salutation to the
God facing the south,

Who is the greatest
teacher.

Sarvathmathvamithi
sphutikruthamitham,

Yasmadamushamin
sthave,

Thenasya
sravanath thadartha mananath,

Dyanascha
Sankeerthanath,

Sarvathmathva
maha vibhuthi sahitham,

Syadheeswarasthvam
svatha,

Siddhyeth
thath punarashtadha parinatham,

Chaisvaryamvayhatham.
11

The concept of the
Athma,

Which is explained
in this poem of praise,

Hearing which ,
understanding which,

Meditating which and
singing which,

One would attain
the state of the godliness,

And the great state
of self realization,

And also you would
get the eight powers of occult ,

Without any
problems in between.

Appendix:

The following
three stanzas as well as the first stanza are chanted after the main stotra:-

Chitram
Vata tharor mole vruddha,

Sishya,
Guror Yuva,

Gurostu
mounam vykhyanam,

Sishyasthu
china samsaya

It is strange to
see,

The very old
disciples ,

And the very young
teacher,

Who sit under a
banyan tree,

With the teacher
always observing silence,

And the students
getting all the doubts cleared.

Om nama pranavarthaya,

Suddha
jnanaika moorthaye nama,

Nirmalaya
prasanthaya,

Sri
Dakshinamurthaye nama.

Salutations to that
Dakshinamurthy,

Who is the meaning
of the pranava , “om”,

Who is the
personification of unalloyed wisdom,

Who is crystal clear
in his thought,

And who is the
epitome of peace.

Gurave
sara lokaanam,

Bishaje
bhava roginaam,

Nidhaye
sarva vidhyanam,

Sri
Dakshinamurthaye nama.

Salutations to that
Dakshinamurthy,

Who is the teacher
of the entire world,

Who is the doctor to
those,

Afflicted by the
disease of birth and death,

And who is the
treasure hose of all knowledge.

* My grateful thanks are due to
Sri.S.N.Shastri of Madras who is an expert in Vedanta, for going through my
translation critically and suggesting changes. I have carried out all of them.